


Dissonance

by Merciiful



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other, POV First Person, Self-Insert, Trans Character, also sort of, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 11:12:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8798644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merciiful/pseuds/Merciiful
Summary: Logan died. He died but didn't stay dead, and now he's in a new world, in a new body, and not quite sure what do with it.  Also, what higher power thought giving him magic was a good idea?





	

**Author's Note:**

> I was telling myself to work on the next chapter for Ember, but my brain said 'hey, remember that DA fic idea you had? Yeah, let's write that instead.' So I decided to go ahead and listen to my dumb brain. Comments, reviews, and constructive criticism always welcome. Enjoy!

When I was thirteen years old, my father died. A hero to his country, he died with honor. At his funeral, a man in a wheelchair told me that he was only alive because my father saved him. I had spent the all of my waking moments since my mom and I got the news wondering if it had been worth it. When this man explained how my father laid down his life for him and for others, I knew it had.

I decided I would join the military as well, and become a hero, just like my father.

I never realized how literal my vow might be taken.

Now, at twenty-eight years old, I was a captain of a small squad settled in a small outpost in the middle of nowhere, desert addition. We were mainly a patrol and peacekeeping team - a small village was close enough to the outpost to warrant military presence, but had yet to be targeted by hostiles. My squad spent most of our time with the locals, helping with any injuries, participating in general town maintenance, and just doing what we could to keep our occupation of the town from ever seeming threatening.

It was a good job. An important job, even though not everyone saw it that way. The outpost itself was important, and putting a smile on the local children was more rewarding than anything else I could've possibly been doing, truth be told. 

There had never been hostiles in the area before.

"Captain," Someone was calling my name, one of my men, Kaide, who was working very hard at keeping his voice calm as he grabbed my attention. "There's a disturbance at the east entrance. Possible hostile." I didn't even bother pausing long enough to reply before I was sprinting in the direction Kaide indicated. There were only three points of road entry into the town, and one was a short jog to the east from where I had been. As I rounded the corner, I saw another one of my men pointing his weapon at a young man - boy really - who was, _fuck_ , holding a grenade in the air, his eyes wide with fear and adrenaline. My own weapon was immediately pulled and pointed at him, and I cautiously stepped forward.

"Don't do it," I said, because I wouldn't miss, and I hated the idea of this kid throwing his life away. The kid turned his manic gaze on me. "Don't," I said again, recognizing the look in his eyes.

He pulled the pin.

I pulled the trigger.

Everything seemed to slow down for a moment. There were too many people near the grenade, and even if no one was killed in the blast, the shrapnel damage would be fatal out here without a hospital. The boy was still falling, already dead. The grenade was plummeting to the ground, about to go off.

I didn't really think about it, in the end.

I lunged forward, grabbing the grenade and tucking it under my body. I was pretty sure I was hearing numerous people screaming, but then the grenade went off, and it was blissfully silent.

* * *

I woke up with a gasp.

Well, waking up probably wasn't the best turn of phrase to use. Rather, I became aware again, already on my feet, though I was no longer in the desert. Instead I was in some strange world that was tinted _green_ , of all things. I thought perhaps this was the afterlife, but discarded it pretty quickly. There was strange plantlike rods twisting up towards the warped green sky, and the ground was little more than wonky paths that wove around each other and dropped off into oblivion. It all seemed achingly familiar, but I couldn't place how I recognized any of this.

"I failed." The words were a whisper, gasped out in between harsh breaths of pain. I quickly turned toward the voice, and saw a young woman laying on the ground. There was a huge bloody gash across her stomach, where her hand was pressed, as if that would keep all the blood inside. I found myself running towards her, and her gaze jerked up to meet mine. Ice blue eyes were filled with fear and anguish.

"Demon?" She asks, and then shakes her head, laughing in an almost delirious manner. "No no, the demon already got me. But wasn't it supposed to possess me?" I hesitated, not sure what to say. She used to word 'demon' as if it were an actual name of something, rather than a figure of speech. Maybe she was crazy. But then, I could've sworn I just died.

"I'm not a demon," I said, cautiously, stepping closer. She flinched away at the movement, and I stopped immediately, despite the cry of pain the movement caused her to make. I wanted to go to her, but she was obviously afraid of me.

"That's exactly what a demon would say," she said. She laughed again, but it turned into a sob. "It doesn't matter now. I already failed." Her eyes met mine again. "What are you then, if not a demon?"

"My name is Logan Wells. I'm just a man," I paused for a moment. "Or at least, I was. I think I died, but I don't know how I ended up here. I don't even know where here is." The woman somehow managed to give me a look like I was stupid while also bleeding to death. It was almost impressive.

"Logan," she said. Her eyes dipped closed for a moment, she was going to die soon. "You are in the Fade. My name is Solona. Solona Amell."

A chill went down my spine.

_"Come on, Logan, really? Using the default name is kind of lame isn't it?"_

Dragon Age. Somehow, this was something out of _Dragon Age_.

It had been a running joke, back home. If I wasn't on deployment, I was most likely in front of the computer, playing the games over and over. I had just finished the last DLC for latest game prior to my last deployment. I found myself hoping this was some sort of post death hallucination or something.

"Solona," I managed to say past the lump that suddenly grew in my throat. This wasn't real, couldn't be real. But if it was... "This isn't right. You are supposed to pass." Solona choked on another laugh, leaning her head on the ground, the strength to keep holding it up was no longer there. I found myself crouching down next to her. 

"I was strong," she whispered. "They told me I held so much promise. I needed to pass, to find a way to leave the Circle. I needed to find my family again." She heaved, and her ribcage seemed to rattle. "Now, I just don't want to die alone." I swallowed back a few tears. 

"You won't," I said, and reached out my hand. She lifted hers off the wound to reach out and take it. Her fingers clenched around my own, and then suddenly there was a harsh squeezing sensation. Solona screamed, a horrible noise that made me attempt to cover my ears, but my hand wouldn't comply. I couldn't wretch it from her grip, and now there was a terrible bright light, and Solona was still screaming, and _oh, god what was happening?_

Everything suddenly stopped.

I was struck deaf and blind, and I staggered back. Wait, I staggered back? I had just been sitting down, hadn't I? 

"Congratulation, Solona," said a voice to my right. My eyes suddenly snapped open, because Solona was dead, there was no way she survived that wound, but what I saw when my eyes opened wasn't the Fade.

It was the Harrowing chamber.

The person who spoke could be no one other than First Enchanter Irving, and sure enough, when I glanced to the right, an older man who definitely had a likeness to the NPC was standing there, smiling warmly at me.

At me.

I held up my hands and glanced down at them. They weren't my hands. They were too feminine, without the calluses that came from years in the military. When my head tilted down, black hair cascaded down around my shoulders. I swallowed a few times in shock, before looking back up at Irving.

He seemed to catch my distraught look, and he smiled warmly.

"Don't worry, it's normal to feel faint. You aren't possessed. You passed, rather quickly too," he said.

You're wrong, I wanted to say. Solona _is_ possessed, I possessed her. _Oh god, I murdered a girl and stole her body_. But I couldn't speak, so instead I let the shock catch up with me, and I passed out.

**Author's Note:**

> So obviously, Logan isn't Trans in the traditional way, having spent a good portion of his life as a cis male. However, he will be treating it in a similar way, thus the tags and what not. Word of warning, I myself am not Trans, so I may accidentally handle something with Logan's situation in a way that's wrong. If I write something ignorant and/or offensive, please let me know! I never want to make people uncomfortable.


End file.
